


The Dark Quartet

by Alley_Walk (AlleyWalk_writes), Tod der Fata Morgana (AlleyWalk_writes)



Category: D.Gray-man, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Allen is the Destroyer-of-Time, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dysphoria, F/M, Gen, Hogwarts AU, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Alma Karma, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shapeshifter!Allen, Suicidal Thoughts, Trans Allen Walker, Violence, silent communication, wolfskins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-03-01 13:07:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18800956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Alley_Walk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyWalk_writes/pseuds/Tod%20der%20Fata%20Morgana
Summary: Lavi knows the truth. The truth about Allen.Allen is a shapeshifter, as tied to the moon as the moon is tied to the sun.And that truth had seemed relatively harmless at first. But truths can be revealed to people with not so benevolent intent as Lavi and his friends, and then Lavi's whole world might come crashing down. And with the secrets they're keeping from Allen and the truth of what they're planning to do, Lavi's beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, y'all!
> 
> So, this is going to be a long road of series(ish) fics with an ongoing plot that follows each fic. I've never done anything like this before, so I hope it makes sense!
> 
> Here's chapter 1 of the first in the series, which will be called _blood in the water_ once I get this first fic out.
> 
> I can't think of any trigger warnings other than vomiting, but do consider the "mature" tag. Stuff can get violent.

Red stalked his prey through the human den meant to confine him, his paws skimming soundlessly over the smooth ground. He had woken up here in this prison of stone and steel and had been unable to escape no matter how hard he threw himself against the walls. It had made him angry. And he was so **hungry** . The human male he was stalking was oblivious to his fate. Curly fur on his head and golden eyes, with a stolid build. There would be so much **meat**. When he was out in the open, Red pounced. The human fell to the ground with a cry, and Red slashed his claws across his stomach, easily disemboweling him. He took a bite of hot, steaming entrails, gulping them down with delight. A shaking human hand came up to touch Red’s head, stroking gently. “Allen… I… love you…” The hand fell to the floor, lifeless. Red’s ears flicked, ridding himself of the oddly familiar sensation of that human’s touch, and went back to eating.

Allen woke up.

He found himself lying on the floor, naked, something itchy and uncomfortable crusted onto his skin. He looks down and realizes it’s blood. A sinking sensation made its way into his gut. He’d gotten attacked by some sort of big cat, sure, and maybe his recovery was a bit faster than normal, but it was only a wild animal. Werewolves were the only thing that infected people.

Right?

Then the smell hit him.

It was overpowering. It smelled _good_ too, which was why Allen was standing and taking stumbling steps towards it right before he realized what that smell was a second after he saw the body.

Allen fell to his knees.

He can’t

He can’t

_Mana._

He threw up all the contents in his stomach. Then he threw up again upon seeing what had been _in_ his stomach, clenching his fists so hard it hurts until there’s nothing left and he’s dry heaving next to his father’s body.

Tears streaming down his face, he moved to cup what was left of Mana’s face. Then he pressed his forehead against his and sobbed.

He doesn’t move for a long time after that.

Allen wakes up.

Instant nausea assails him, his stomach roiling. He hops out of bed and runs to the bathroom, Timcanpy hissing his displeasure at being disturbed. Allen shuts the door and just makes it to the toilet before he throws up all the contents in his stomach. Allen’s left eye alerts him of one of his dorm mate’s approach, Timcanpy around his shoulders. Luckily it’s only Inali.

Inali opens the door and Timcanpy immediately flys over and lands on Allen’s shoulder, preening his hair with a worried chirrup. Inali comes in and–oh, good, he brought gloves–sits down next to Allen on the floor. “Hey, Allen. Are you okay?” Inali asks, taking Allen’s hand with a worried glint in his eye. The texture of fabric on fabric is a soothing balm to Allen’s nerves.

 _“I would like to know this as well,”_ Timcanpy says, fluffing out his feathers and repositioning himself on Allen’s shoulder with his toe claws.

“I’m fine,” Allen says, sending Inali a reassuring smile. _“You don’t need to worry.”_ He says, looking to Timcanpy.

Timcanpy looks him in the eyes, his green eyes glowing in the dim light being filtered from the Black Lake. He dips his head, and goes back to grooming Allen’s hair with his beak-like snout.

Allen turns back to Inali. “I’m feeling a lot better now.” Allen says with a reassuring smile. He grimaces. “Though, I think I need to take a shower, or at least wash my hair.”

Inali smirks. “You poor, deprived child.” He yawns. “Well, if that’s all, I’m going back to bed. See you in the morning.”

Allen nods, with a smile. “See you. Goodnight.”

Quietly grabbing some clothes from his trunk, he steps into the shower with Timcanpy draped around his shoulders, delighting in the hot water. Allen always turns it on especially hot when it gets close to the third quarter moon. It eases the ache of his spine and the throbbing of his shoulders, and he relaxes into the shower. By the time he's finished he's relaxed and also–unfortunately–completely awake.

It was a good thing most of his friends were night owls.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Allen goes looking for Lavi first, because if there's anything guaranteed, it's that the Bookman heir will be up at this hour reading a book or performing his Bookman duties. The Ancient and Noble House of Bookman was a mysterious family. Everyone knew that they basically knew everything about everyone, from a juicy gossip piece to their deepest, darkest secrets. Whether through spywork or an information network so convoluted that not even Master can pin it down, they were a force to be reckoned with. Another of the odder things about them was how their house gained the next heir. Rather than having someone who was related to them, they chose someone from the magical world to be their heir.

Lavi claimed they were chosen for their intellect and stunning charm, and Allen had to agree– at least, about the intellect part.

He went to the library first. A quick walk around while scanning with his eye, however, showed that Lavi was not there. Feeling disappointed, Allen droops against a bookcase. He quickly shakes his head however. Lavi wasn't in the library. That must mean he was somewhere else on the castle grounds. Standing up straight, Allen closes his eyes and reaches out his senses, searching for a certain redhead. He might be completely out of Allen's range, but there's no point in not trying, right?

In his mind's eye, he flies through the halls of the castle, passing moving staircases with ease until he's on the castle grounds. He soars over the surface of the Black Lake, the calm surface disturbed by the giant squid. Two familiar lifesigns ping on his senses, one a vibrant red that is sharp and focused, one a cobalt blue that's as calm as a pool of water, centered and focused compared to the writhing storm waves it had been doing earlier.

The red signature is by the Black Lake. The blue, however, is in the Forbidden Forest.

Allen huffs.

It figures Kanda would break the rules when it suits him and then judge Allen for doing the same.

_“So what do you think, Tim? Kanda, or Lavi?”_

Timcanpy cocks his head in consideration. _“Our Kin would be best, I believe. The Snake-Headed One is most unsettling, even if the snake only is your odd mammalian hair.”_

Allen flicks him on the forehead with a snort. _“You’re odd.”_

Timcanpy snaps at Allen’s face, settling into a sulky silence.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Allen finds Lavi, or rather, his trunk, on the ground by the Black Lake.

He whispers the password and climbs in, stepping down off of the stairs and into Lavi’s library. Each wall is lined with bookshelves filled to brimming with books, in no particular order– though Lavi swears there's an order to the chaos. And he never loses anything, so Allen supposes it might be true. Allen maneuvers around precariously piled stacks of books, some of the tomes on the bookshelves looking older than sin, until Allen finally finds Lavi hunched over his desk, reading a book in some foreign language that Allen can’t quite make out, while translating feverishly on a seperate notebook.

Allen looks over his shoulder. “Hey, Lavi. What are you working on?”

At the sound of Allen’s voice, Lavi jumps like he’s been poked with a pincushion and slams the book shut, quickly covering it with some old herbology notes. Inwardly, Allen narrows his eyes. _Well, that’s not suspicious at all._ Outwardly, however, he simply smiles and says, “Bookman business this late, Lavi? You should really be getting some sleep.”

Lavi laughs and rubs his head sheepishly. “Well, you know me.”

Allen smiles and shakes his head, covering his mouth as he yawns. “I’ll just leave you to it, then. It is pretty late.” He says. _And I’ll also wonder why you were translating something in Celtic about werewolves._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Lavi is sneaking inconspicuously out of the restricted section, plunder in hand, when Lenalee says from behind him, "what are you doing?"

Lavi jumps. _Shit._ Well, when caught in the act, bullshit like hell.

Lavi grins. "Hey, Lena." He says, crossing his arms behind his head and, incidentally, hiding the book he had gotten from view. "I was just leaving the restricted section. You know how it is."

Lenalee crosses her arms. Lavi can see Kanda looking at him from behind a bookshelf, which means Alma can't be too far behind. Lenalee stamps her foot, "yes, I do know how it is. Which is why I know you," she points at Lavi, "don't _sneak_ out of the restricted section. You walk out of it like you own it."

Lavi winces and doesn't meet her eyes. She reaches up to grab his chin and forces him to meet them anyway. "Lavi," she says softly, "what's going on?"

Lavi grimaces and looks away, only to see Kanda standing behind Lenalee's back with his arms crossed, Alma with their killer doe eyes out in full affect.

Lavi sighs and runs a hand down his face. "Fine, fine! I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone else. Not even Komui." He looks at Lenalee at this point.

Lenalee nods seriously. "Of course." The Hufflepuff says, and Lavi supposed her answer should have been obvious.

"So?" Kanda prompts impatiently.

Lavi looks around the library. No one looks particularly interested, but that doesn't mean they aren't. Especially when it comes to them, the friends of the Destroyer-Of-Time.

While no one is exclusively outside of Allen's circle, it's easy to tell who's a friend and who's a _friend._

And that's almost exclusively because of their reason for wanting to be friends with Allen in the first place.

Whether it's Lenalee because Allen so desperately _needed_ a real friend, Alma because they have something in common, or Kanda because… _Kanda._ (Lavi feels like that one's self-explanatory). And, of course, Lavi himself has his own reasons for being Allen's friend. Some not particularly benign.

But he was his friend.

And he would do what was best for him, even if it meant going to illegal measures to do so.

 

 

* * *

 

 

They're skipping out on lunch while the rabbit waffles over whatever the hell he has to tell them. This better be good.

Kanda's been getting good at _reducto_.

If the rabbit doesn't answer quickly, he might just shave him bald.

Though that'd be much more satisfying to do to the beansprout.

 _Though I'd do that and more if any of the Archfiend families decide they have a bone to pick with him,_ another part of Kanda growls angrily.

"And I really don't know how to explain this…" the rabbit keeps babbling, and Kanda's temper snaps.

He doesn't slam his hand down on the table, but it's a near thing. "Hurry up, rabbit. I'm missing soba for this."

The rabbit sighs and then looks around furtively. "It's about Allen." He whispers, and immediately Kanda can sense several auras perk up with interest. Cursing–and what the fuck Lavi, why would you reveal whatever the fuck this is in a _public_ library–Kanda draws his wand and erects a privacy ward.

Their eyes are all firmly fixed on Lavi now. _Just fucking say it already. He's still alive so it can't be that bad._  Lavi takes a deep breath. "Allen is a shapeshifter."

Well, fuck.

Lenalee bites her lip. "But Lavi, the moons…"

She was right, of course. They would have noticed by now if Allen had disappeared every full moon. He does, however, disappear every so often, with a perfectly reasonable excuse on his lips every time he returns. Kanda had just been resigned to the bullshit, except now that he's counting them up, he can't help but notice a pattern.

Kanda meets Lavi’s eye. “The half moon?” He asks seriously.

Lavi nods. “That was what I couldn’t figure out before. But in this book,” Lavi hefts up a a humongous book and slides it on the table, and Kanda catches the title before Lavi flips it open.

“ _Lore of the Shapeshifter_?” Kanda asks skeptically.

Lavi nods with a grimace. “I thought it was junk, too, at first. And some of it is a lot of baseless theory packed with a lot of discriminatory garbage, but. This passage, right here. It says, ‘The Mngwa, however, transform during the phase of the half moon.They can transform outside of the half moon, however that does not make them any less…’”

Lenalee frowns. “Any less what, Lavi?”

Lavi frowns. “‘any less vicious.’ But look this author is obviously biased. He said in the first thirty pages that you could fend a werewolf off with a wooden cross, and everyone knows that isn’t true.”  

Underneath the table, Alma grips Kanda’s knee in a death grip. Kanda looks over to see Alma looking shaky, their eyes a bit bright. Kanda could have kicked himself. He had known of Alma’s fear of werewolves ever since they had nearly gotten bitten when they were nine. Tiedoll had scared it off, but it didn’t exactly leave Kanda feeling charitable towards werewolves.

But this was the beansprout.

And now Alma was afraid of him.

Kanda took Alma’s hand in his, squeezing gently. Alma started breathing again. They shot Kanda a grateful smile, eyes still bright.

“Well obviously it isn’t true.” Kanda snaps. “But what are we going to do about it?”

Lavi smiles, his expression sly. “I have a plan.”

As they planned, a person watched in the background, and the more they watched, the more their smile grew.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanda knew performing dark magic was like playing with fire.
> 
> He just didn't expect to get burned quite so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!
> 
> So, I know I just updated yesterday, but... chapter 2 is finished and I'd really like to know what people think. 
> 
> Also, I got the Brotherly Stamp of Approval™ on this chap, so I'm excited to see what everyone else's reactions are to it.
> 
> Only trigger warnings I can think of are hearing voices, dysphoria and panic attacks, so enjoy.

“Wolf pelts and werewolf’s blood?” Lenalee asks incredulously. Really, sometimes what these boys got up to without her there to rein them in was simply ridiculous. At least Alma mostly behaved.

They were in the Room of Requirement this time, and it was set up as a dueling space/lounge area, as Kanda and Alma had wanted to practice their dueling while Lenalee had wanted a bit more of an in depth explanation than, “a forbidden Celtic ritual that I can’t really talk about here.” He had at least given the name of the book, which Lenalee would have planned to look up if it wasn’t apparently written in Celtic.

So it was that Lenalee is interrogating Lavi while spellfire flies above their heads.

Lavi rubs the back of his head. “Er, yeah.”

Lenalee twirls a strand of her hair between her fingers in thought. Her brows furrow. “But Lavi, buying werewolf blood has to be illegal, doesn’t it?” Curse her brother for wanting to live in the muggle world. She might be a muggleborn but her brother was the Headmaster! She should know these things.

“Well,  _ yes _ , technically. But the Bookmen have good contacts in Knockturn Alley, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Lenalee sighs, scrubbing at her face with her hands. There’s no point in trying to point out ethics to a Bookman so Lenalee doesn’t even try.  _ Why am I friends with him again? _ She asks herself with fond annoyance.

Lavi hesitates. “You know, you can back out if you want to. I was already planning on doing this on my own. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to, y’know?”

And this was why they were friends. Because Lavi, even as a Bookman, genuinely cared about people. Maybe it was just them, or maybe it was everyone in general. Lenalee would probably never know. She didn’t know much about Bookmen, but she knew that actually caring about the people around them was sort of a big no-no. So she never asked. 

But she knew.

Lenalee smiles reassuringly, tucking her chin length hair behind her ear. “It’s fine, Lavi. I wouldn’t have agreed without taking  _ you _ into account.” She says, smiling playfully.

Lavi jerks as if struck, a hand falling over his heart. “I am wounded, Lena.  _ Wounded. _ What part of ‘forbidden ritual’ did you not understand?”

“Um, maybe the part where there’d be werewolf blood involved?” Alma says, leaning heavily on Kanda with sweat dripping down their forehead, sticking their robes to the small of their back. Kanda's sweaty too, but not in nearly as bad shape as Alma. With a huff, they flop down onto the couch, shucking off their outer robe with a sigh of relief. 

Kanda sits next to them, legs crossed, and demands, "so then what do we need to do?"

Lavi grins. "Leave that to me."

 

 

* * *

 

_ Your friends are avoiding you. _ The voice says in the middle of Allen trying to figure out his Astronomy homework.

Allen sets down his quill with a sigh, holding it loosely in one hand. "Yes, I know." He says, in the quiet of the library.

_ They're hiding things from you. _ The voice continues.

Allen's grip on his quill tightens. "Yes. I've noticed. Thank you for that stunning revelation." Allen says scathingly, his voice barely coming to a low hiss.

_ Why let them? _

Allen takes a deep breath. "Because I trust them."

_ … _

_ Well, let's hope that trust lasts. _

 

 

* * *

 

It was the night of the full moon. They had prepared their wolf pelts by coating the under sides with werewolf blood. Lenalee and Alma had looked a bit greenish while doing so, which had prompted Lavi to promise that no werewolves had been harmed in the gathering of this blood. Alma had looked relieved, but they were still very nervous, scared even. Lenalee, however, had been the skeptic of the two 'puffs, however she didn't say anything, for which Lavi was grateful. Kanda, forever the brash Gryffindor, had simply rolled his eyes and continued to coat his own wolf pelt in blood with a not-so-legally procured ritualistic paintbrush.

To be completely truthful, Lavi himself wasn't completely sure of the origins of the blood or pelts he had procured. Just that the blood was werewolf, the pelts were wolf pelts, and that if he paid extra his supplier would keep quiet and look the other way.

Kanda had been right to be cautious. And to be honest, Lavi had been thinking along those lines too. But libraries just reminded him so much of home, of  _ safety _ , that he had unconsciously relaxed.

But he couldn't afford to do that. Not here, not with Allen's life possibly on the line. He didn't know who took care of him after half moons, but if a Mngwa's transformation was even worse than a werewolf's during the half moon, then what did that mean for Allen? What scars was he hiding under long sleeves and a polite smile?

And why did Alma look so scared? Lavi noticed Kanda subtly holding their hand under the table, Alma squeezing back with what must be a death grip. Lenalee is alternating giving Alma worried looks and eyeing the bloodbone candles suspiciously. Lavi had sworn on his life that they weren't made from human blood. (They were). Kanda had thrown a  _ look _ his way for the lie, but the honest relief on the two 'puffs faces made it worth it. 

(And it saddened Lavi, that even two good people such as Lenalee and Alma, made the distinction, however subconscious, between  _ human _ and  _ werewolf _ ). 

(Humans really were such despicable creatures).

Looking to the dusty window inside the disused classroom that they're currently using, Lavi sights the distance of the moon in the sky. Not quite midnight. They need to hurry.

Lavi looks to them all. "So, if anyone wants to back out now, just say so. No regrets." Lavi says, meeting Alma's eyes.

Alma swallows. Their gaze turns determined. "I'm doing this with you. I'm not backing out. And if… if it works, he'll recognize us, won't he?"

Lavi nods. "That's the plan." What goes unspoken is what happens if the plan goes wrong.

Lavi can no longer see the moon, which means, "it's time."

Lenalee nods gravely, and pours them each a small glass of werewolf blood. Kanda takes his with a grimace of disgust and goes to stand in his correct place, wolf pelt draped over his back. Lenalee and Alma do the same, and that just leaves Lavi picking up his cup and draping the pelt over his shoulders, the blood having dried to a gooey viscousness that makes Lavi's stomach want to rebel. He goes to stand in his correct place, four interlocking circles drawn in blood on the ground, Celtic writing inscribed on the outside, with each participant standing in a single circle.

Lavi stoops and lights the bloodbone candle standing in the fifth circle, the one at the very center of the configuration, the candle casting odd flickering shadows in the eerie light of the full moon.

They drink their blood in unison, the liquid burning it’s way down his throat. Lavi starts up the chant, an ululating song that makes his heart race with adrenaline. Lenalee picks up next, adding strength to their song as Lenalee’s voice harmonizes with his. Kanda joins in next, Alma not far behind, their voices mixing together until there is no Lavi, is no Bookmen. Only the wind running through his fur as he runs over the surface of the snow, his pack not far behind, tongue lolling from his mouth in a wolfish grin. His heart is singing, his blood burning like liquid fire through his veins. The spell breaks into one last ululating cry, and then the pain hits.

It feels like all of the skin on his body is being ripped from his flesh all at once. 

It feels like a hand has reached in and ripped his heart out of his chest.

Lavi hears screaming.

He’s not sure whose it is.

The world warps around him, and then everything goes dark.

 

 

* * *

 

Kanda wakes up. 

Fucking hell. His whole body aches. What the fuck went wrong with that spell? 

Shit. Is he on the floor?

Opening his eyes, Kanda leans back and stretches out his sore muscles, before freezing mid-action. That wasn’t right. That wasn’t how his body moved. He lifts up his (arm) foreleg to inspect it. Definitely a wolf's foreleg. Kanda opens his mouth to let out a curse, but his jaw is too long, his tongue too unwieldy, not to mention not having any human vocal chords. He bares his teeth, his ears flicking back in displeasure. A deep growl rumbles from his throat, which is better than nothing.

Suddenly Kanda hears a wolfish whine, that one sound somehow conveying both anxiousness and distress, and his ears swivel towards it. There’s a black wolf with a brown undercoat struggling to her feet, and Kanda instinctively goes over to her. As soon as he’s near her he recognizes her scent; like Lenalee, except a lot more pronounced. Lenalee skitters back upon seeing him, her–blue? What the fuck? Why the fuck are they  _ blue? _ –eyes wide. Then she seems to recognize him the same way he recognized her, because she rushes forward to brush her neck against his, letting out a pitiful whine.

Kanda doesn't have time to process how that one action had felt like a hug and a plea for comfort all at once. He compartmentalizes it and tells his brain to suck it up and deal with it. They've got bigger priorities right now.

Kanda nudges her,  _ come on, we need to help Lavi and Alma, _ and Lenalee pulls herself together and dips her head in agreement. 

They look to see the rabbit being stupid, as usual. Because of course instead of being freaked out by being turned into a wolf by a spell gone wrong, he’d be fascinated by it instead. They find the brown wolf carefully testing out each limb, utter fascination written in his posture. When he notices them he whirls around with an ecstatic bark, eyes bright and intrigued. Lenalee lets out a disagreeing growl, unhappy and disgruntled.  _ Idiot, _ Kanda growls.

Lavi huffs indignantly.

Lenalee pads over and noses him fondly with her muzzle. Lavi whines and licks her cheek in apology. Kanda huffs impatiently and looks towards Alma's circle, only to see a small black and grey wolf, stiff-legged with fear with their tail between their legs. Kanda takes a step forward. Alma bolts.

Kanda leaps into motion, running after Alma, the window overhead shattering as Alma leaps up and over the table and crashes through it. Kanda follows, the scent of Alma's fear permeating his nose.

 

 

* * *

 

Alma was terrified.

They were pretty sure that if wolves could cry, they would be crying right now. The ritual wasn't supposed to do this! It was only supposed to make Allen recognize them as pack, not-  _ this. _

This was terrifying.

This was Alma being turned into one of the monsters that they had always been afraid of.

Alma didn't hate werewolves. 

They did fear them, however, just because of one small incident when they were nine. 

_ "Well, well, looks like I can have a small snack before dinnertime." _

And then the werewolf had been scared away by Dad and everything had been fine.

But it hadn't been fine. Not really. Because that man had wanted to  _ eat _ them, and that can never be okay.

No, werewolves were horrible, awful and scary, but Alma didn't hate them.

They feared them too much for that.

And now a wolf is chasing after them, and he smells so  _ familiar _ , the scent of rabbit on the breeze making their stomach growl, and Alma doesn't want to be smelling these things or thinking these thoughts, thoughts so  _ alien _ in nature.

Even their own mind isn't safe.

Alma stops, panting, wheezing for breath. They can't breathe! They can't breathe! They can't-!

Warmth. A familiar comforting presence beside them, pressing against their side and breathing deep, calm breaths. 

Alma's breathing slows, until slowly they start to recognize the presence beside them. Kanda. They may not like their new senses, but they can still recognize their best friend's scent. He always uses the same shampoo; Alma had picked it out for him after all.

Alma stands still, simply breathing. They try their best not to give into any wolfly urges like rubbing their ruff up against Kanda's or whining in distress, but they end up letting out a little whine anyway while their ears pin to their skull-and Alma did not tell them to do that. They wish they would quit.

Kanda leans into their side in a gesture of… Comfort? Alma doesn't know. They're not sure they want to know. Still, just for a second of comfort, Alma brushes their ruff against Kanda's. Then they pull away. Kanda looks at them with bright cobalt blue eyes, and then nudges them in the side. Alma jumps, looking at him. Kanda gives them an exasperated huff, nudging them in the side again. When Alma just looks at him in confusion, Kanda growls and grabs them by the scruff. Alma yelps, claws skittering against the earth, as their head is pointed towards… oh. The castle.

… 

Hogwarts! They're out after curfew!

With a panicked yelp Alma leaps into a run, Kanda giving a gusty sigh before following after.

They could have an existential crisis later. For now, they needed to figure out if turning back into a human was even  _ possible. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do headcanon in this that everyone would have a little dysphoria at first with the whole wolf thing, though Kanda would ignore it and pretend nothing's wrong, and Lavi would be more fascinated by it and so he would see his dysphoria as unimportant, but that it'd be pretty stressful for Lenalee and a lot worse for Alma.
> 
> Sorry there's not much Allen in this so far, it's just that not a lot of important stuff is going on with him right now. There will be in later chapters but for now... *shrugs* That doesn't mean he won't make appearances, though! I mean, he is the main character, so I feel sorta bad for sidelining him. ;^^
> 
> Also. The silent communication thing. Was it understandable? My brother thought it was fine, but I wanna know if it was comprehensible. I really like it and want to keep it, so tell me what you think!
> 
> See y'all next chap! ^^


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It's like a combination of Charms and Transfiguration. You visualize what you want to happen, and then you will it to make it so. And then you reach out your hand, and take off the wolfskin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! 
> 
> New chappie, though not quite as long this time. This one also doesn't yet have the Brotherly Stamp of Approval™ quite yet, so I'm a bit nervous, but I wanted to get it out to y'all!
> 
> Also, this is still me, Fata Morgana, I'm just under a different pseud. ;^^ I like this one better. It's a bit more D. Gray-Man themed, even if I only thought it up, like, yesterday. ;^^

**Thursday, October 11th, 2007: Outside of Hogwarts Castle**   


 

When they arrive back at Hogwarts, they come across a problem. 

They can’t get back inside the fucking castle.

They had jumped the castle gates as easily as they had before, but apparently opposable thumbs are required to open doors. They had tried retracing their steps to the window they had jumped out from, but it was too high up to climb back into, and a wolf clambering onto another wolf’s back just wasn’t feasible. 

Kanda is sitting on the ground staring at the castle doors balefully, Alma pacing anxiously at his side, when the doors suddenly open. 

Kanda jumps back in a defensive position, guarding Alma at his back as a growl rumbles low in his throat. But the human in front of him is familiar.

Lavi’s hair is disheveled, with no headband in sight. He’s wearing his Hogwarts robes and his wolfskin tied around his waist. Upon sight of them, an instant look of relief crosses over his face. Stupid rabbit. Didn’t he think they could take care of themselves? Kanda huffs at him, and Lavi smiles sheepishly. Opening the door wider, he beckons them in. Kanda looks at him like he’s an idiot, but doesn’t argue. 

Alma follows as they make their way inside. The castle holds no comfort for Kanda, searching the portraits for watching eyes as they make their way down the hallway. By some luck they all seem to be asleep, so they creep quietly down the hall. At least until Lavi  _ trips over his own feet like an idiot _ , waking several portraits in the clatter that follows.

“Are those wolves?”

“Wolves? Where?”

“Wolves! There are wolves inside of Hogwarts!”

“My word! What are things coming to these days?”

They bolt.

Lavi throws open the door to the abandoned classroom they were using, and Kanda and Alma enter, sides heaving for breath. A familiar scent fills Kanda’s nose, and he notices Lenalee in human form,  _ Scourgifying _ the last of the evidence of their misdeeds from the floor.

Kanda lets out a frustrated huff. What were they getting that he and Alma weren’t?

“I’m done with the floors,” Lenalee says, and Lavi quickly banishes the candle,  _ Scourgifying _ the wax that had dripped onto the floor.

Kanda growls to get their attention, and then looks pointedly at the wolfskin wrapped around Lenalee’s waist.

Lavi sighs, running his hands through his loose hair. “We don’t have  _ time _ ,” Lavi says, stress threading through his voice. Lenalee leans against his side, wrapping an arm around his waist, and Lavi relaxes slightly. He takes a deep breath. "We don't have time for this right now. We need to get out of here, especially with the caterwauling those portraits are doing. The castle is going to be searched soon, and the dormitories won’t be the first place they’ll look.”

Lenalee frowns, then nods in agreement. “That should give me enough time to show them the ropes. I’ll take Kanda and Alma.” When Lavi gives her a confused look, she explains exasperatedly, “you and Kanda never get along, and Alma needs to come back to their dorm anyway to avoid suspicion. And Kanda can’t even come into my dorm room, so I need to sneak into Alma’s anyway.” Lenalee says with a shrug.

Lavi nods. “Alright. Stay safe, guys.” He says, looking at them both. Kanda gives an offended huff, and Alma nudges him with their muzzle, amused.

Luckily there’s no portrait at the entrance to the Hufflepuff common rooms. Kanda wishes he could see things properly, but for now everything is decorated in deep blacks and faded creams, the carpet soft under the pads of Kanda’s feet. Paws? Fuck, whatever. He’s not changing his speech patterns over a spell.

The walk up the stairs was hell on Kanda’s body. Wolf bodys are not made to climb stairs. They make it up to the fourth floor and open the door to Alma’s dormitory, gliding in on soundless feet, as silent as the nighttime hunter. Kanda can smell which bed is Alma’s, and evidently Lenalee can too by the way she arrows right towards it. Shit. So the wolf senses don’t just go the fuck away when they change back to normal? Fucking great. 

Suddenly, a student with blond bedhead snorts and and opens his eyes, his muddy amber eyes contrasting sharply with his light brown skin. They all freeze. The student yawns and then blinks and looks at them. He looks at them tiredly with a bemused smile. “Well this is a weird dream.”

Kanda glares at him.  _ Yes, it’s a dream, now go the fuck back to sleep! _

The boy yawns and turns over, pulling the blankets over himself. “Well, g’night.” He says, his voice already fogging over in sleep. Soon his breathing evens out, and Lenalee lets out a sigh of relief. They sneak over to Alma’s bed, Lenalee pulling back the drapes. Lenalee climbs carefully onto the bed so as not to make too much noise, the two wolves sitting on the floor.

Lenalee casts a  _ quietus _ on the drapes, and then stores her wand back up its holster. She turns to Kanda and Alma,  _ finally _ , and says, "Alright, so Lavi was the first one to figure this out."  _ Of fucking course. _ "It's like a combination of Charms and Transfiguration. You visualize what you want to happen, and then you will it to make it so. And then you reach out your hand, and take off the wolfskin."

Kanda bared his teeth. It couldn't be that easy. Lenalee lifts an eyebrow. Kanda huffs, turning away. He looks down at the ground. Visualization. What does that even mean? Does he just imagine his wolf form becoming a fucking skin and then will it to happen? 

Well. He might as well try. 

Closing his eyes, he visualizes his wolf form peeling back from himself, revealing his Hogwarts robes and his human body underneath. And then he focuses all his willpower on that one image and wills it into existence. And then he reaches out a hand and pulls off his wolfskin, looking down at it with faint disgruntlement. 

"Kanda! You're back!" Lenalee cries, jumping up from the bed and landing on her knees in front of him. She wraps him in a totally unwanted hug, but Kanda allows it for a few seconds before pulling away. 

"I was never gone." Kanda retorts.

Lenalee smiles sadly. "I know, but… after all this, I just want things to go back to normal."

_ That's unrealistic, _ Kanda wants to say but doesn't. 

Instead, they both talk Alma through the change from wolf to human, and by the time they manage that they're all so tired that they end up all falling asleep together in Alma's bed.

Kanda sleeps soundly.

 

 

* * *

**XXX, XXX XXX, 2007: Midnight**   


 

The dungeon hallway is dark around them, lit only by the occasional wall sconce that burned with green fire, casting everything in a sickly light. The dungeon was damp and cold at this hour, but these two people did not seem to mind. It was empty and deserted, a perfect time for a midnight rendezvous. 

One person was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. The second had just arrived, and they skipped over to them, an oddly childlike gesture.

“Hey~!" They say brightly. "You’ll never guess what I just heard in the library the other day…” They continue, a devilish smile playing across their features.

The other person's impatience melts away. They lift an eyebrow. "Oh, really? This certainly sounds interesting. Please, do tell."

 

 

* * *

**Friday, October 12th, 2007: The Headmaster's Office**

 

It turns out that sleeping in the boys' dorms with Alma and Kanda in the same bed had Consequences. 

Brotherly Consequences.

"Lenalee, I don't want you seeing either of those boys again." Komui says, adjusting his glasses with a severe air. They're standing in Komui's office, Komui leaning against his desk, both of them unmindful of the paperwork and random potions and Arithmantic equations littered everywhere.

Lenalee winces but doesn't correct the misgendering. Alma wouldn't want her to.

"Nothing happened, brother!" Komui crosses his arms and gives her a skeptical look. She could say it right now. _I like girls_. But Lenalee was scared about how Komui would react. People didn't exactly react kindly to this kind of thing. It was why they kept Alma's true gender a secret and why Allen gets so much shit for being trans, even though he was _the_ _Destroyer-of-Time_. 

Lenalee realizes her eyes are filled with tears, and she blinks them back, but not before Komui sees. His expression softens. He takes her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. "Oh, Lenalee. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Lenalee sniffles, wiping her eyes with her other hand. "No, it's not that." 

"Then what is it? Did one of those boys-?"

"No! I told you, it wasn't like that. I…" Lenalee swallows nervously and looks away, "I like girls, Komui."

Komui blinks, and then looks… angry?...upset? But it turns out to be none of those things as Komui says, tone thoughtful, "I think I'll transfer you to the boys' dorms. I'm sure you'll get up to much less trouble-"

Lenalee laughs, feeling exasperated yet relieved.

That was brother.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Friday, October 12, 2007: The Room of Requirement**

 

Allen is surprised to find his friends coming to meet him in the Room of Requirement for breakfast. He had gone every day for all his meals, because part of him had hoped that they would at least want to see each other at mealtimes, if not him. And that was fine, really.

Allen had managed alone for a long time before anyone else came along. He could do so again.

Besides, he still had Cross.

_ And what use will that drunken layabout be? All he wants is a drink and a good fuck. _ The voice says, and Allen scowls at the reminder.

Then Lavi walks in the room, and as soon as he sees Allen his face lights up as bright as the sun. "Allen, buddy!" 

Allen smiles weakly and stands, "hello, Lavi."

Something in Lavi seems to soften, because he strides across the room and pulls Allen into a hug. Instinctive fear makes him stiffen, but he relaxes into the touch, more easily than before. He takes a quick sniff at the crook of Lavi's neck, wrinkling his nose at the overpowering smell of his body wash but feeling the comfort of  _ safe _ and  _ home _ . 

It takes him a second to realize that Lavi's scent is a bit different than normal. There's a hint of wolf, of wildness, that has Red perking up in interest.  _ Threat? Enemy? _ Red asks seriously, anger bubbling up between them.

_ Friend, _ Allen says forcefully. He can feel Red's dubiousness, but he stays silent, thankfully. 

Just before Lavi pulls back, Allen notices–is Lavi… smelling him too? But why would he? It's not like he's a shapeshifter too. Allen has smelled werewolves before, and while Lavi is close, normal werewolves don't have blood infused in their scent. 

Just what happened while they were away?

Lavi pulls away just as Lenalee, Alma, and Kanda enter the room.

"Hey, guys! C'mon, let's eat!" Lavi says, gesturing to the table already set up for the five of them.

Allen smiles. "Yes. Let's." He was going to find out what happened to his friends. 

Even if it was the last thing he ever did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting now I'm going to be back editing and puting headers of the date/time/location in the beginnings of the POVs.
> 
> Also, idk if anyone caught this, but because canines can only see colors on a certain spectrum, (for example, they can't see red, which is why they saw Lavi's pelt as brown instead while they were in wolf form), the narrative while they are in wolf form will be a bit unreliable when it comes to what they see.
> 
> Also, I don't know if anyone was concerned about this, but there will be _no_ a/b/o dynamics! I freaking _hate_ that stuff and just... no.
> 
> Sorry if any of y'all was looking forward to that but I can't stand it.
> 
> Anyway. See y'all next chapter! ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all!
> 
> So, just a head's up that I'm back to working on another fic of mine, though this one's a BNHA one, so I'm not sure if y'all would be interested or not... *shrug* it's under my TodderFataMorgana pseud if you wanna take a look. *shameless plug*
> 
> So anyway updates will probably slow as I work on that as well. idk if y'all noticed but I am a slow writer. I mean. I know I give out 2k chaps but I work real hard just to put out those.
> 
> Chapter 5 is almost finished even if I gotta edit some stuff bc I don't like how I was writing things and I think I came up with something better. ^^
> 
> Anyway, TWs are suicidal thoughts/thinking(or being passively suicidal, if you get my drift), panic attacks, vomiting, violence and gore,

**Friday, October 12th, 2007: The Room of Requirement**

"So, how has everyone been?" Allen asks, taking a bite of his poached egg while serving himself up a second portion of a full English breakfast. Yeesh. Where does he put all that, his second stomach?

"Good." "Great." "Fine." "Terrible."

Lavi resists the urge to cover his face with his hand as Allen focuses on Alma with the full force of a fighter jet flying full speed at its target. Alma doesn't seem to notice. 

"You have?" Allen asks, looking concerned.

"Yeah. It's been awful." Alma says, moving around their fried tomatoes listlessly. Usually they like fried tomatoes. Discreetly, Kanda kicks them under the table. They jerk up in their seat, and finally seem to realize to whom and what they were talking about. 

Alma laughs nervously. “Yeah. I-I mean, Transfiguration is terrible. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with it.”

Allen frowns thoughtfully, not looking suspicious in the slightest. But then this is  _ Allen _ we're talking about, here. “Well, I’m not too bad at it. I could give you a few tips if you'd like.” Lavi snorts. “Not too bad at it,” was an understatement. Allen was practically a Transfiguration god, if not a prodigy. He was a particular favorite of Suman’s, his pride and joy in fact. The Transfiguration professor got a little too enthusiastic about Allen’s abilities sometimes, in Lavi’s opinion.

Alma tries for a smile. It comes out more as a grimace. “That’d be great.” They say weakly, as the scent of their fear floods the room. Lavi can hear the slight unevenness of their breathing. By the way Kanda takes their hand under the table, everyone else can too.

“So, Allen, how have you been doing?” Lenalee picks up the conversation, and Lavi can see the way she resists shooting Alma worried looks, her body language getting tenser and tenser. Lavi puts a hand on her knee and squeezes, and Lavi can see the way she relaxes slightly.

“I’ve been alright.” Allen answers with a smile, while Timcanpy slithers down his arm to steal a bite of his sausage links. Allen gives him a reprimanding look but Timcanpy only sniffs daintily as he slithers back up to Allen’s shoulders.

Lavi frowns, trying not to be amused. “So no trouble with DADA or potions?”

As usual, Allen scowls. “Cross is a right berk. And of course Sokalo is a bloody arsehole, but everyone knows that.” He says with a dismissive shrug.

Lenalee nods with a frown as she finishes chewing her rashers. “Professor Marian is especially hard on you.” Lenalee agrees with a disapproving frown.

“He’s a fucking asshole.” Kanda says. With some consideration, “Sokalo is a dick.”

“He’s a good teacher though,” Alma says, the smell of their fear lessening as the conversation goes on. “Even if his methods are a bit… unorthodox.”

“Speaking of unorthodox,” Allen says, casting a quick  _ tempus _ , “The Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs have to meet at the track field in ten minutes.”

Alma groans, putting their head in their hands. Lavi pats them on the shoulder. “I feel ya, buddy. But hey! At least maybe you won’t throw up this time!”

Alma groans again.

 

 

* * *

 

**Friday, October 12th, 2007: The Track Field**

“When my granny was ninety-one!” Cross shouts while running easily in front of a horde of panting, tired students, stepping over some who had already collapsed on the third lap.

_ “When my granny was ninety-one!”  _ All of the students chorus weakly.

“She did PT just for fun!” Cross says with a devilish grin, picking up his pace.

_ “She did PT just for fun!”  _ The students chorus, trying to match his pace. Only some of them manage, some of them dropping like flies.

Alma, for once, is not one of them. They’re not sure why. Usually they would have dropped by the second lap. Out of the five of them, only Lenalee, Kanda, and Allen can keep up with Cross, and Alma is calling foul on Allen on the count of him being raised by him and so personally trained by him.

The only reason Lenalee and Kanda can is because they do training outside of school. Alma doesn’t, so they’re not sure why they’re keeping up.

Unless… 

Alma checks and makes sure their wolfskin is still tied on properly around their waist, and gives a sigh of relief when they find it so. They can never be too sure.

But that means… 

That what they did with that ritual has changed them, even more fundamentally than they had thought.

Suddenly Alma feels sick.

They drop back from where they had been running near the front, fall on their knees, and puke on the ground. The people running are long used to upset stomachs, and so simply run around them and their pool of vomit.

Tears fill Alma’s eyes and they can’t handle this they can’t they can’t they can't 

They run.

 

 

* * *

 

**Friday, October 12th, 2007: Free period**

Kanda is sitting in lotus position in the perfect meditative state in an abandoned classroom when he hears the most annoying sound in the world.

_ What the hell is the rabbit doing this time? _ Kanda asks himself grumpily, opening his eyes. He’d already had to help Alma out of a panic attack today even though he had no idea how to solve Alma’s problems because he didn’t see it as a problem in the first place.

Sure, it had been problematic at first when they couldn’t turn back into humans. But as far as Kanda was concerned, these wolfskins were a new asset to their abilities. And if they wanted to use them correctly, they needed to know as much about them as possible. 

Kanda looks over at the rabbit. He’s wearing his wolfskin on his back, and as Kanda watches, the rabbit says, “On!” And then after tugging on his wolfskin, there’s a red wolf standing there, mouth open in a wolfish grin. Then a hand reaches out and tugs off the skin, and the rabbit appears with a grin. “Off!” Across the room where Lenalee and Alma are sitting trying to decipher what went wrong with the rabbit’s spell, Lenalee looks at Lavi incredulously, while Alma looks on nervously.

“On!”

“Off!”

“On!”

“Off-!” Kanda’s temper snaps, and he rips the wolfskin from Lavi’s hands.

“I swear if you don’t stop, I’ll fucking  _ burn _ this thing.” Kanda snarls.

Kanda’s not prepared for the sudden fear on Lavi’s face. Why? Why is he afraid? Kanda thinks for a moment what he would feel if someone threatened to burn his wolfskin, and the instant fear and anger is shocking.

“Fuck, just- here.” He says, shoving the wolfskin at Lavi. The rabbit cradles it protectively against his chest.  

They’re all silent for a moment, processing this new information.

“Well that’s weird.” Lavi says thoughtfully.

Kanda snorts. “Yeah, no shit.”

 

 

* * *

 

**Monday, October 15th, 2007**

With this new information, Lenalee is understandably a bit nervous (paranoid) while in Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. That’s why she jumps out of her skin when someone taps her on her shoulder.

Heart pulsing in her chest, she turns to see Marie looking at her with quiet concern. “Are you okay, Lenalee? You seem nervous.” He whispers. Beside him, Miranda looks at her with concern.

“I’m just-” The lie dies on Lenalee’s lips. She can’t lie to Marie. The blind wizard would hear it from her heartbeat. She sighs. “Not really. I can’t say why, though.”

Miranda frowns, clearly worried. “Y-you can’t? Why not?”

Lenalee bites her lip. “I just can’t.”

Marie frowns. “Can’t or won’t?”

“Both.” Lenalee says sadly.

Before Marie or Miranda can come up with a response to that, a cold chill runs down Lenalee’s spine, goosebumps raising along her arms. She looks wide-eyed to Miranda and Marie. “Did you feel that?” She asks. But she already knows the answer before they both nod, the students unease filtering through her senses.

_ Allen. Lavi. Kanda. Alma. _

Lenalee’s up and out of her seat, looking for that familiar pair of dark haired students. Seeing them, Lenalee calls, voice like the crack of a whip. “Kanda! Alma!” Kanda’s up and out of his seat in a flash, his hard eyes meeting hers. Alma’s not far behind, face looking determined. 

“Where are you children going?! Hey!” They ignore Professor Dark as they race as one out of the room, a determined fire burning in their hearts.  

_ Allen. Lavi.  _

_ Please be okay. _

_ I can’t lose anymore family. _

 

 

* * *

 

**Monday, October 15th, 2007: ditching Professor Sokalo’s Potions class**

Allen and Lavi were relaxing by the Black Lake when it started to get cold. 

Well, Allen was trying to relax. For Lavi, however, work was play, and so here he was trying to grill Allen about Transfiguration while he was lying in the grass, trying to enjoy the fall breeze playing across his hair.

Emphasis on trying.

But Allen really did love Transfiguration, even if he didn’t live and breathe his classes like Lavi did. So he sat up and began to explain the practical sides of Transfiguration, which Lavi wasn’t so good at. He was great at theory; in fact he was great at almost anything in theory except Care of Magical Creatures which, for some reason, bored him to no end.

Allen actually loved Care of Magical Creatures. Even if none of the animals loved him back. 

Unconsciously, Allen brings a hand up to the left side of his face, and Lavi pauses mid-word. His eye turns understanding, and he’s about to say something when a shiver runs down Allen’s spine, his breath fogging out in front of him. A thick fog starts to spread out from the Black Lake, and ice frescoes out onto the grass, forming glittering ice crystals all along the ground. 

It’s so cold now, deep in Allen’s bones. He wants to move, wants to run, wants to stand and fight–but he's so cold, and it all seems so distant. Mana's death flashes before his eyes, clearer than it had ever been before, in imagination or in memory. 

He remembers, with perfect clarity, how good Mana's intestines had tasted, how Mana had told him he loved him, before he died. 

And so when clarity returns, and the odd, wolf-fish creatures step out of the water, Allen doesn’t run. He just sits there, and waits. He gets a detached moment of recollection, sitting in one of Master’s many libraries filled with obscure texts; reading a book about Inuit Magical Creatures. A creature that had particularly intrigued him at the time had been the Ahklut. With magic resistant pelts similar to his own, they were half-wolf half-orca spirits with dementor-like effects, they show a person their worst defining moments in an effort to break them before they come and devour them whole. Allen had resolved upon reading this never to encounter one, as unlike with dementors, mere happy thoughts did not drive them away. 

“Allen, buddy, we have to go,” Lavi urges, standing up while tugging on Allen’s robes. The Ahkluts snarl, their dark wolf-like faces lit with the eerie glow of their blue, blue eyes. The Ahkluts are large, larger than normal wolves. Their orca-like markings are accented by the dorsal fins on their backs and the orca tails, complete with flippers, waving behind them. There’s something strange about them, but Allen can’t quite put his finger on it… 

“You go without me.” Allen tells him, watching the Ahkluts with passive interest.

If they killed him, would he see Mana again?

_ “Bombarda!” _ Lavi fired off his first spell, the Ahkluts surging towards them like a gleaming wave of black.  _ “Diffendo! Diffendo! Diffendo!” _ Lavi’s cries grew more desperate as the Ahkluts remained undamaged by his spells, the rising tide of black and white bodies converging closer. Should I have told him they were magic resistant? Allen wonders. As the pack of Ahkluts flood around them, a storm of teeth and claws headed straight for Allen, Lavi says, “Fuck this.”

And then there’s a red and black wolf where Lavi once stood, jumping in front of the Ahklut about to gut him and tearing into its face with his jaws.

The world comes rushing back in for Allen.  _ Lavi-! _

Taking out his wand, he stands and Transfigures his clothes into armor and his gloves into ironhard claws. He dives into the fray, fighting with Lavi at his back. He catches glimpses of Lavi from the corner of his eyes, the smaller wolf darting between the Ahkluts that are nearly twice his size, leaving deep wounds calculated to hinder and cripple. Allen blinds an Ahklut with a hard slash across the eyes, feeling the flesh give beneath his fingertips as blood as cold as ice splatters across his face. He whirls to the side, feeling the flesh of the orca-wolf’s side cut open under his claws. The Ahklut roars, waving its tail to bash it into Allen’s head. Allen’s eyes widen, and he ducks, feeling the air pass above his head. Coming round to the back of its haunches, he cuts through its achilles tendons, the flesh giving easily under his claws. It goes down with a howl of pain that pierces Allen right through the heart. He’s so distracted he doesn’t see its tail. He sure does feel it, though. 

He goes flying through the air, his chest screaming in pain, and lands on the ground. He coughs, trying to catch his breath.  _ Get up. _ Getting up on his hands and knees, he meets the green eye of the wolf next to him. Allen smiles, reaching out a hand to touch his head. Soft. “Hey, Lavi.” Lavi noses him under the chin, pulling back to give him a wolfish grin.   _ Hiya, beansprout. You feeling any better? _ Before Allen can answer, an Ahklut goes straight for Lavi’s throat. Allen jumps between them, shoving his arm into the Ahklut’s maw. The Ahklut bites down on Allen’s armored shirt, and Allen grimaces at the buckling armor, the wolf-orca’s teeth shrieking against the fabric. Allen grins and kicks it in the chest. The impact doesn’t cause it to go far, however.  

Allen glances at Lavi as they move back-to-back. “Now doesn’t seem to be the best time for conversation.” Allen says wryly. The thick white fog around them rises to their knees as their footsteps crunch on the frostbitten ground. As the pack of Ahkluts circle around them, Allen wonders just how they were going to get out of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger, oh no!
> 
> Oh YES.
> 
> *evil cackle*
> 
> BOW BEFORE THE CLIFFHANGER GOD! GIVE HER COMMENTS AND KUDOS OR QUAIL BEFORE HER MERCILESS WRATH!
> 
> Ahem. Just kidding. I won't seriously leave it at a cliffhanger for too long (on purpose) just because no one kudos-ed or commented.
> 
> But those would be super nice! Please do and tell me what you think.
> 
> Also Ahkluts are real creatures from Inuit mythology, though I personally don't like the myth behind them, the creatures are just too cool not to play with a bit.
> 
> Also, I slipped in some Britishisms. Tell me what you think?


	5. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heey everyone!
> 
> Yeah, I know, it's been awhile.
> 
> Got caught up in depression, new fics, and ADHD is a witch for keeping up with the same fic even if you absolutely love it at the time.
> 
> However I've become interested in this fic again to bring you chapter five. Chapter six is in the works, and after that plus maybe another chap to tie up some loose ends, the first Arc will officially be over! ^^
> 
> So yeah, I hope you're looking forward to the next Arc!

**Monday, October 15th, 2007: Hogwarts Castle**

 

Of course the beansprout would choose now of all times to go missing.

 

The fact that the rabbit was missing along with him certainly didn't help his credibility.

 

The three of them were racing through the halls, an encroaching feeling of dread rising in Kanda's stomach as they run from the Potions classroom–where Allen and Lavi were not to be found–and start searching room-to-room, calling their names.

 

_ Where could they be? Where? Think dammit!  _

 

But for some reason all Kanda could think about was a woman’s tearstained face, her wand pointed at him as a flash of green light eclipsed his vision. 

 

_ That woman. I know her. I…  _

 

Instinctively, Kanda looks to Alma. They're already looking at him, a haunted cast to their features. Silently, they link hands.

 

Up ahead of them, Lenalee was even worse off, shrinking in on herself while mumbling something almost too difficult for even them to catch. "Brother, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" 

 

Alma's eyes soften, and they reach out a hand for her shoulder. "Lenalee…"

 

Lenalee’s breath hitches. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're dead."

 

Alma's hand freezes a fraction of an inch from her shoulder as a cold chill goes down Kanda's spine. Alma looks to him and mouths  _ 'Komui?' _ eyes wide and concerned. Kanda hesitates. Fuck that. There's no time to be hesitating in a crisis situation like this. He reaches over and shakes her shoulder. When that elicits nothing he slaps her. Hard.

 

"Yuu!" Alma starts, exasperated and angry. 

 

But Lenalee's tear-filled eyes open, and she says weakly, "Ka-Kanda?"

 

"Thank Merlin you're okay, Lenalee!" Alma says with relief, wrapping her in a hug. Lenalee rests her head on their shoulder before pulling back.

 

"What happened?" 

 

"Well, we're still not sure-" Alma begins.

 

_ "Grandfather I'm sorry I disappointed yooou!" _ A voice wails, along with other muffled sobs. Kanda takes off towards the sound. Luckily, Krory is a very loud crier. Kanda would know. He's one of the only dorm mates of his who's actually tolerable, and that's saying something considering he's half-vampire.

 

_ “I’m not a monster, please, I just want to play kickbaaall!” _

 

Kanda kicks the door down and is met with a wand pointed directly at his face. Daisa meets his eyes, blocking most of his view of the classroom, and asks seriously, "what's the password, dickface?"

 

"Fuck you, asshat! Let me through to see Krory." Kanda growls, drawing his wand.

 

Daisa grins. "Good to see you too, brother. Come on in, and bring your friends in too." Daisa withdraws from the doorway so they can step within.

 

Inside the classroom, Miranda and Krory are huddled on the floor, crying and weeping. Johnny fusses over them, while Marie observes anxiously, hovering near Miranda.

 

Marie notices them first, and he lets out a sigh of relief upon sensing them. "Good. You three are safe." His brows furrow. "But where are Allen and Lavi?"

 

_ "Attention all students!" _ Komui's voice echoes throughout the entire school as he continues,  _ "please stay where you are. There is an invasion of magical creatures on the Hogwarts grounds that is being taken care of by the staff. Thank you." _

 

Daisa whistles, impressed. "Well, that answers  _ that _ question."

 

 

* * *

 

**Monday, October 15th, 2007: The Black Lake**

 

They decide that Johnny can stay inside and protect Miranda and Krory, while Diasa and Marie come with them to help. They decide to look at the Black Lake first, as that was one of their most popular hang-outs. They make it there to find total chaos around them. Thick white fog drifts up to Lenalee’s calves, frost crunching under her feet with every step. The sky has darkened above them, casting everything in perpetual twilight. There are these weird wolf-fish hybrids, nearly twice the size of Lenalee’s wolf form and twice as threatening. Lenalee spots Professor Nyne fighting them with a tined whip, Professor Dark wielding a broadsword. It’s only when she sees brother fighting them with his electrified dao blades that she starts to get worried.

 

“Why aren’t they using magic?” Lenalee voices her concern.

 

Marie frowns, thoughtful. “The creatures must be magic resistant.”

 

Alma gasps, their eyes widening. Lenalee follows the path of their gaze, only for her heart to drop in her stomach.

 

Because Lavi was–

 

In wolf form.

 

 

* * *

 

Kanda didn’t like secrets. 

 

He liked things better when they were out in the open.

 

So keeping a secret from Allen, from Marie and Daisa–well, it wasn’t pleasant.

 

But it was necessary, for the safety of the others. They were still adjusting, and none of them had really gotten back up on their feet yet, not even Kanda.

 

But when Kanda sees Lavi in wolf form, out in the open for all to see, he thinks,  _ fuck this. Fuck secrets. _ And then he pulls on his wolfskin and is running towards Lavi and Allen on all four feet.

 

 

* * *

 

“What the hell?!  _ Kanda?! _ What the bloody  _ fuck _ just happened?!” Daisa yells, clearly upset.

 

Lenalee’s heart skips a beat.  _ Kanda, why? _ Beside her, Alma looks just as frightened, though hopefully that will be seen as because of Kanda’s abrupt transformation into a wolf rather than something more. 

 

But her hopes were not to last.

 

Marie turns to her, his head cocked. “You knew, didn’t you? That’s what you were talking about, in the classroom.”

 

“I-” Lenalee bites her lip, her heart pulled in two different directions, one to defend the secret protecting them, the other to protect her friends from the real danger facing them. Lenalee looks over to where Allen, Lavi and Kanda are to see Allen nearly get bowled over by a fish-like wolf, only for Kanda to leap to his defense.

 

“There’s no time for this,” Lenalee decides, turning away and reaching for her robe pocket. 

 

Then a hard hand wraps around her shoulder and whirls her around, and Daisa’s pointing a finger in her face, expression angry and vengeful. Lenalee glares at him. She  _ does not have time for this. _ “Look, Lenalee. I need to find out just what exactly happened to my brother, and I need to do it  _ now _ so I can find the person responsible and  _ shove my fist up their ass!” _

 

There’s a sniffle, and the abrupt sound of someone crying.

 

It’s Alma.

 

“Alma…?” Marie asks, hovering a hesitant hand over their shoulder.

 

Alma shakes their head, and Marie drops his hand. “I-it was a-an accident! W-we didn’t m-mean to do it!” Alma sobs.

 

Daisa abruptly drops his hold on her robes, his anger replaced with a deep concern as he approaches Alma. “Mean to do what? Alma, what’s wrong?”

 

“I don’t want to be like this! I just want to go back to the way things were before.” Alma cries, grabbing their wolfskin and gripping it tightly, as if that would somehow make it disappear.

 

Daisa’s expression turns pensive as he looks from Alma’s wolfskin to Lenalee’s. “You three and those fucking wolfskins… and  _ Lavi…"  _ He sucks in a harsh breath and hisses it out through his teeth, his eyes narrowed as he seems to realize something. "You guys didn’t steal from the Selkie Folk, did you? Please tell me you weren’t that stupid.”

 

Alma and Lenalee blink and look at each other. Lenalee lifts an eyebrow.  _ Who are they? _ Alma shrugs. _ I don’t really know. _

 

They both turn and Lenalee asks, “What's a Selkie?”

 

 

* * *

 

Daisa is sitting slumped against the castle wall, glowering next to Alma. He had been forbidden from fighting because apparently his  _ blind _ brother Marie being good at Technomancy was better than steady Outstandings in DADA. Daisa huffs. No. He knows that’s not fair. The other problem was that apparently these… Akhuts… or whatever Marie had called them once Lenalee had given a description of them to him. Daisa had kinda tuned him out. If he wasn’t going to be fighting these things he didn’t see the point in putting the effort into actually  _ listening _ . Oh. Right. His point was, they were apparently magic resistant, and since Daisa and basically everyone else sucked too much at Transfiguration to do anything on the fly, Daisa was stuck here, determinedly  _ not _ sulking.  

 

His only silver lining was that Alma had also been forbidden from fighting because of their mental breakdown. Which he was glad for, because he didn’t want any more family members out there fighting these creatures. Their eyes give him the heebie jeebies.

 

The smaller two wolves out there dart about, watching Allen’s back as well as each others'. Lenalee has made it out to where they are and has become one of the main offensive fighters, her Technomancy staff crackling with electricity as she slashes and jabs the sharpened points into the Akhuts. The wolves, and it hits him again that the black and white dotted wolf is  _ Kanda _ , are mostly diversions, distractions that give Allen, Lenalee, and Marie openings that they wouldn’t have otherwise had. The teachers seem confused by the cooperation, Komui sending distracted glances to check Lenalee’s safety when he otherwise wouldn’t have.

 

And that's the rub, Daisa thinks, glum. Unwrapping a piece of bubblegum, Daisa pops it into his mouth. This whole entire thing only came out because of this attack. How long would it have been kept secret if not for that?

 

How long before they would have told him?

 

To be frank, Daisa is worried. Worried and scared, (and he does not admit that lightly). You don't piss off the Selkie Folk. You just  _ don't. _ Anyone with enough brain cells to rub together knows that. And this whole affair is going to be stepping on a lot of toes, because as far as Daisa knows, the Selkie Folk lost the art of creating selkie skins a long time ago.

 

He glances sideways at Alma. And however they had gained their wolfskins, it sure doesn't seem like they stole them. Stolen selkie skins only work so well for the thief, and though Daisa's not sure on the specifics, they don't seem to be having any problems with them.

 

Which means they really are selkies.

 

The reality of it crashes over Daisa again, and he shakes his head and glances towards the battleground. Daisa just has time to see an Akhut pull Marie to the ground, savaging his leg in a spray of blood. And then Daisa is up and running, with the most crazy idea he's ever had running through his head. 

 

Taking his gum from his mouth and drawing his wand, Daisa throws the chewed up ball of gum with perfect accuracy–thank you, football–under the belly of the beast attacking Marie, the gum disappearing into the mist.

 

Daisa aims his wand, not at the creature, but at the ground near its face. It growls, biting down on Marie's leg, and Marie screams. Daisa hears a crack not unlike the sound of the crack of a baseball bat, the middle of Marie's calf now bent upwards with a bloody piece of bone sticking out. 

 

Rage infuses Daisa to the core.  _ "Bombarda!" _ he screams, a jet of light shooting from his wand to hit the ground. The spell detonates upon impact with the ground, rock and earth exploding up through the fog right into the Akhut's face.

 

_ Take that, you fucker! _

 

The creature yelps, letting go of Marie's leg. Daisa lets out a sigh of relief. Good. Now time for phase two for this bastard. Before he can even activate phase two, however, the wolf-fish hybrid lunges for him. He's swiping his wand in a curving motion and casting  _ incendio _ before he can even think. Years of dueling instincts guide his movements, and okay, maybe a little anger too, but that doesn't mean that either are practical in this situation. 

 

The creature bursts right through the flames, completely untouched, fangs flashing towards his face. Daisa yelps and stumbles back, wand falling from his nerveless grip to disappear into the drifting fog below. His heart pounds in his chest and terror grips him with its icy fingers as he faces the Akhut, weaponless, a panting and severely injured Marie completely defenseless behind him.

 

The castle is to their backs, so at least they can’t get past them because of the wards–the wards. How are these creatures in the grounds with the wards still activated? Before Daisa can think of an answer to his question–because thinking too much mid-battle is had and he should really, really stop doing that–the creatures growls and steps forward, it's large tail swinging right towards his head. Daisa curses, dodging, but then stumbles over something, going arse over teakettle and tumbling to the ground. 

 

Heart trying to beat itself out of his chest, the creature looks over him, opening its great maw, it's glowing blue eyes meeting his. There's nothing inside it's maw except for fangs and a void so vast that it goes on forever, infinity upon infinity. Its eyes enrapture Daisa, so blue… so beautiful… he shivers as it draws closer, feeling cold to the bone.Yet he feels no desire to move, captured by those eyes, even as something stirs to the surface inside Daisa, and glittering gold light starts emitting from his skin, before being sucked into the (scary) mesmerizing creature’s maw.

 

(Someone, please help.) Daisa smiles at it lovingly, noticing Komui trying to make his way towards him. Hmm. Maybe he wants to join them? Daisa can faintly hear words in the distance, but he only has eyes for his love as more of Daisa’s glittering light is funneled towards it.

 

Then a black and grey blur streaks past Daisa’s field of vision, a low snarl ripping through the air, before Daisa feels a flash of (not his) pain, and the world comes rushing back in. Daisa gasps, instantly feeling drained. A horrible feeling comes over him and he shivers and hugs himself, feeling disgusted.

 

Daisa feels like he wants to vomit. Like he wants to hide away where  **no eyes can see him.** But he can do none of those things, so he pulls himself together and becomes aware of his surroundings. 

 

He’s lying on the ground with the sounds of vicious snarling nearby. He’s about to get up when, through the mist, he spots his wand lying on the ground a few feet to the side. _ I don’t know how I missed that before. _ With a sigh of relief, Daisa grasps his wand, feeling the familiar welcoming warmth chase some of the chill from his bones. Standing with a crunch of ice beneath his feet, Daisa notices that the fight has moved from the original position of where he had thrown the gum. 

 

Cursing up a bluestreak, Daisa takes out his packet of gum. 

 

_ Empty. Of fucking course. _

 

Ducking the fighting wolves, Daisa being careful not to meet the Akhut’s eyes, he searches low to the ground for that stupid piece of gum. He finally stumbles upon it–literally–and spends several precious seconds trying to remove it from the sole of his shoe before finally giving it up as a lost cause. He places a tracking spell on the gum this time, as well as a warming charm to unfreeze it, before turning his attention to the fight, his left foot unbearably cold and wet from where his sock touches the ice covered ground.

 

Alma dances out of reach of the bigger wolfs jaws, before darting in to score a line of flesh across its shoulder.  _ And fuck, it really is Alma, _ Daisa realizes all over again. It's still not sinking in, really. Marie has recovered enough that he’s propped up on one arm, providing aid with his strings from the other, playing defense to Alma’s offense. Well Daise isn’t just going to leave them hanging.

 

“Head’s up!” Daisa yells, winding back his arm and throwing his shoe with the belated hope that it landed the way he wanted it to. Dammit, why didn’t he just float it over there? Why does he only think of these things  _ after _ the fact? What-? Alma leaps back away from the Akhut, giving him a look as if to say, ‘really?’ 

 

The shoe lands with the heel facing upwards under the fish-wolf hybrids chest, before disappearing beneath the fog.  _ Thank Merlin, some good luck for once. _ Luckily, the tracking spell is still in place, so Daisa can aim his wand right at that wad of gum and yell,  _ “Engorgio!” _ An icy blue light hits the gum dead on. There’s a wet, slurping sound, and then a sticky, amorphous mass rises from the ground, growing and expanding at an alarming rate, swallowing up the body of the wolf-fish hybrid in seconds. It’s head, legs, and tail stick out comically, and Daisa quickly removes the heating charm. The creature struggles but in under a minute, the bubblegum has frozen to the point that it’s too difficult to move.

 

Daisa grins at his handiwork, only to freeze as a warm weight presses against his side. Alma whines, nudging Daisa’s hand with their nose. Daisa looks into blue eyes and his breath catches in his throat.  _ Blue-purple, _ he reminds himself,  _ Alma’s eyes. _ Daisa shudders, burying his hand in Alma’s fur. Suddenly his siblings being Selkies didn’t seem to matter as much anymore. He just wanted to go to his dorm and go to bed. Or better yet, just go home and get away from the craziness that is Hogwarts for awhile. 

 

Alma whines again, grabbing Daisa’s attention. They turn towards Marie, before looking back at him expectantly. Right. Marie. Daisa has no idea where his head is going these days. Running to Marie’s side, Daisa winces internally at the damage. There’s no way he’s walking on his own.

 

“Doesn’t look so good, does it?” Marie asks, eyes coming up unerringly to meet his.

 

“Not really,” Daisa admits, leaning down to sling Marie’s arm over his shoulders, pulling him up with a huff and a grunt of pain from Marie. “Better?” Daisa asks as some of the weight is taken off Marie’s leg.

 

Marie nods. “Much. Thank you.” He says, his voice still laced with pain. Turning them carefully, Daisa starts walking them towards the castle, only to realize Alma isn’t following.

 

Daisa looks back. Alma is standing, ears pinned to their skull, body hunched. “Alma?” Alma turns away. “Alma, no!” But Alma doesn’t listen, darting deeper into the melee, leaping away into the night.

 

Daisa’s eyes burn. “Daisa.” Marie says gently.

 

Daisa growls to himself. “I know. I fuckin’ know, okay?” With frustrated tears, Daisa walks away from his siblings.

 

His family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all loved how much I picked on Daisa. ^^ I sure did.
> 
> I feel sorta bad for giving him more screentime than the main characters, but at the same time I feel like Daisa is really neglected in the fandom. So... hope you enjoyed?
> 
> Comments?
> 
> Kudos?
> 
> See y'all next chap!


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